Football Season!

Football season is here! It's one of the many reasons we love fall. Fall is by far the best time of year. Leaves changing, weather cooling off, school back in session, and FOOTBALL! Our BYU Cougars started out the season strong, and even though they had a devastating loss last week, we still love them. Especially when someone gives us free tickets to go see a game in person. (I say "us" as though I was involved... but I didn't get to go.) Jared decided to take our boys and one of our good friends along. They had a great time. Bryson said it was "awesome," although after a while he said he was kind of bored. Hayden became restless a little bit quicker than B (he IS only 4 after all) and was kinda crazy for the rest of the game, but he also said he had fun. Jared ended up having to buy them some popcorn and water (way overpriced, by the way) and they went outside and found a firetruck and some other things to look at during half-time, but they stayed for the whole game. And our Cougars came through with a victory! I'm so glad Jared took a camera so I could see the fun too. :)

And in these next few pictures, don't you just LOVE how my 4-yr-old wears his hat? Either clear down over his eyes, or far enough down to make his little ears stick out. What a kid!

Don't forget to check out the slideshow of some of the action down on the field!

Crazy Goofy Fun

A few months ago (yes, I forgot about these, so they are a little late) the kids and I were playing around taking pictures. I don't remember where Jared was. A meeting, maybe? Or a campout? Who knows! Anyway, I was trying to learn how to use my flash at that time, so I was taking "action" shots of the kids. They were being SO funny. We were all giggling and laughing. Even though I was excited for summer to end and school to start back up, I look back at these pictures that we did on a lazy summer evening, and I miss the days of having nothing to do. Our calendar seems to fill up so fast, and now with homework every night, there just isn't a lot of "fun" time. It makes me realize that we need to make room in our schedule for just goofing off! I love these four crazy kids of mine! I can't imagine life without them. It would certainly be a lot more boring. They are great kids, and I am truly blessed. :) Just click the arrow below to see our crazy slideshow!

Sleepy Heads

Having older kids can be so nice. Jared and I are able to go out once in a while and just leave them, since the older two are old enough to babysit. They do great, and they know that we are only a phone call away if they need anything. Ah, the blessing of cell phones. I remember when I was old enough to babysit, and something would go wrong, I'd have to call the neighbor or my grandparents (who only lived a few blocks away) to come and help. Not that anything ever went wrong... hehe. Our kids are great. RARELY do they need to call about anything. The only phone call we got last night was to say "The sound on the DVD isn't working!" We were able to figure out the problem over the phone, and everything else went quite smoothly. In fact, they fell asleep during their movie. This is what we came home to. Eryn was awake, of course, so was behind me giggling about the boys' funny positions. :)

More Fun with Beans

What do Hayden and I do when we are the only ones home? Well for about a week, all he wanted to do was play with these beans we had gotten out when his cousin was here. We scooped them up with his construction vehicles and dumped them out again. We spread them out and put them into lines. We pushed them into a huge pile, then messed it up. It was pretty fun. Then one day he thought it would be fun to make them into train tracks. So we made squiggly lines with them and put some of his tracks on top of them. He thought it was pretty cool and played trains like that for a really long time. They haven't been out for a few days (which is fine with me) but it was fun while it lasted.

Yep, I'm a Soccer Mom

I love watching my kids play soccer. This year has been a bit of a challenge, just because all 4 of our kids are playing (yes, we are officially insane!) They have all had a great time. I already posted pics of the boys playing, so now it's the girls' turn. They are really fun to watch, because they finally "get it!" They understand how to play their positions, how to pass to each other, and what the rules are. It gives me hope for the boys, since the girls started just like them a few years ago!

First is Eryn. Jared, once again, has been assistant coaching her team. These girls are FUN to watch! She has played a little bit as goalie this year (for the first time) and has loved it and really improved. She loves playing defense, and does a great job. She has become a more aggressive player and I think they've won every game.



And what do my boys do while the girls are playing soccer? Well, this day they found the biggest wolf spider I have ever seen. They were really messing around with it, but I didn't realize that's what they were doing when I was snapping these pics of them... then they said "Mom. Come see this HUGE spider!" Oh yeah... it was. GIANT!! I am not a fan of spiders, and I quickly got as far away as I could. I was glad it was time to head over to the next game... Kaitlyn's.




Kaitlyn disappeared right before her game started, and when I asked Jared (who is her head coach again) where she went, he informed me that the bathrooms were locked, so she and her friend Tamsen (along with Tam's mom) headed over to the high school real quick to visit the restroom! She didn't make it back in time to start, but she got in soon enough. She is doing awesome! She has played goalie a lot this year, but her favorite position is forward. She loves playing offense and scoring. I was standing right behind the goal taking pictures when she scored, but of course I wasn't ready, so it isn't documented on film. It was an awesome goal, though! She LOVES soccer and keeps saying that she wants to play in the Olympics someday.

Layin' Sod!

My parents have been in their new house for a while now, and finally were able to get a fence in and sod for the yard. We are so excited for them! It's going to look amazing when it's all done. The sons-in-law went to help lay sod. (All but Math... we missed ya man!) It was a long, dusty, tiring day, but they got it done and it looks so great! I had my camera there for part of the day, so I got a few shots of them working hard, but after I left for a little bit and came back, I didn't bring the camera with me, so I'll have to take "after" shots another time. They had their rock done a while back... and now it looks awesome with their new grass. I know they have even more plans to make it look great, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. The kids had fun watching their Papabob, dads, and uncles working hard.

4-yr-old Portraits

So little by little I've been trying to get each of my kids out for a little photo shoot. Hayden's just happened to be a couple of weeks ago. I decided to take him out while the others were at school. I think it was the second day of school, in fact. It was fun to have just "mommy and Hayden" time. I'm not sure he felt quite the same way, since he's 4 and doesn't really like my camera much. I offered a small bribe, and he agreed. The first spot we stopped at, he was walking down the hill and slipped in some mud and landed right on his bottom (getting the backs of his legs and shorts muddy). Guess what? No big deal! I stayed nice and calm and made sure he was ok (which he was, of course) and remembered that we had a package of baby wipes in the car! The mud came right off his legs, but not so much the shorts. Good thing we take pictures from the front most of the time! He cooperated for a very short time... and the last place we decided to shoot, he was really tired of it, and decided that he really didn't need what I had bribed him with. "I don't care, mom. I already have one of those." So we stopped. I really didn't think I had gotten anything good, because he kept blinking his eyes, and half the shots were of them closed, but when I downloaded them to the computer, I was pleasantly surprised. I love my little crazy guy! Next (and last) on the photo shoot list is Bryson. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks... then we'll have to go out for our fall family pics. My poor kids. I think the sometimes wish my camera would somehow get lost.

First Day

Hayden started preschool on Tuesday. He has been so excited, and every day has asked if it was preschool yet! Tuesday morning, he even asked if it was time to go at 7:00 am! Nope, sorry buddy... preschool doesn't start until 12:30. The wait nearly did him in. It was kind of nice to have a little break for a couple of hours. I got some things done that were needed, and the house was SO quiet!! I missed him a little bit, though, and when I went to pick him up, he was sad that he wasn't going to be able to go the next day too! Thursday will come soon enough. He did great, and was well behaved apparently, so he didn't forget over the summer (thank goodness!) Now if only we could get him to listen and behave in his Sunbeam class!! Love ya buddy!